Box handle



Oct. 8, 1963 E. DIEGUEZ 3,106,332

BOX HANDLE Filed Sept. 13, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 F i g- F i g 2 1 33 33 I INVENTOR.

Fig. 3 5446-2432 A ttorneys L. E. DIEGUEZ Oct. 8, 1963 BOX HANDLE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 13, 1961 a m m I HV 7 m 3 J A g 2 Attorneys This invention relates to boxhaudles and moreattie ularly to box handles which may be employed with open face boxes or trays such as are used in the berry picking industry for storing and transporting berries.

United States Patent Generally, when picking, storing and transporting berrice, the berries are usually placed in open face boxes or trays which are relatively fiat containers having merely a bottom and four side walls. A plurality of these trays are stacked upon one another with handles extended upwand from alternate ones of the trays. Each handle extends through the tray immediately above and engages the second tray above to form a relatively stable vertical column of stacked trays.

T hese trays ordinarily are received at the berry picking location in a collapsed condition andare assembled in the field. After the trays are assembled they are packed =With. berries and after packing, the wire handles are inser'ted to further facilitate handling and to assist in the stabilizing of the stacks of trays.

In the past, insertion of these handles has required that the bottom edge of the tray be exposed and the handle inserted from the bottom toward the top. Thus, if the tray is sitting on a table or other flat surface it must be either tilted upward or extended over the side of the table in order to insert the handle in one side of the tray.

-In order to insert a handle in the opposite side of the tray a subsequent duplicate operation is necessary. Although each of these operations is relatively simple in itself, it is clearly time consuming when a large number of trays are to be handled. Moreover, since the wire handles are passed into the trays from the bottom, the: handle itself must not only extend upward to the trays above but must also extend to the full length of thetray within which it is situated. Thus, the amount of wire required is, when considering a large numberof handles, substantial;

Recently there hasbeen developed a tray which in corporates end walls having arelatively wide shoulder at the top thereof. The end walls are formed by two rela- 1 .tively upright members forming a space therebetween.

The two members are joined together by means of a triangular shaped shoulder at the top whereby an internal triangular slot is formed. This particular type of shoulder has the advantage of highly increasing the total strength of thetray. j 1

It is an object of this invention to provide a handle for usewith a'tray having the aforementioned type of Wide shoulder. j t

It isanother object of this invention to provide a handle for use in stacking trays which incorporates a relatively small amount of wire. a I t It is still another object-- of this invention to provide a wire handle having the aforementioned characteristics which is particularly simple to insert into the tray.

; It is a further object of this invention to provide a ice , Patented 'Oct. 8, 1963 bodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 7 is a partial cross sectional view showing the installation of a handle in accordance with FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 8 is a perspective view of a fuither embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 9 is a partial cross sectional view of a tray showing the installation of a handle of FIGURE 8;

FIGURE 10 is a perspective view of still another embodiment of the invention; and

FIGURE 11 is a partial sectional view of a tray showing the installation of a handle in accordance with FIG- URE 10.

Referring particularly to FIGURES 1 and 2 there is shown a stack of trays 11 and 13 with the third tray 15 in aposition' above, ready to be stacked on top of the bottom of the tray. Thus, theinner and outer portions together form an endwall having a K shaped cross section.

It is noted that the shoulder 25 includes a central opening 29 through which is passed a wire handle 31.

The wire handle 31 is preferably made of a spring type material and includes upwardly extending arms 33 joined together at the top by means of a cross member 35. The lower portion of the handle 31, as can be seen more clearly in FIGURE 3, includes a pair of U shaped members 37 depending from the arms 33 in a plane substantially perpendicular to the arms 33. The U shaped members open toward each other. p

Installation. of the handles 31 is simply accomplished by compressing the upright members 33 together in a scissor cross fashion whereby the U shaped members 37 overlap. The U shaped members37of the compressed handle are then held in an inclined or substantially verticaltplane and inserted into the slots 29. After the'U shaped members 37 are inserted into the slots the upright members 33 are rotated toward the ends of the box to a verticalfplane while maintaining the U shaped member-s close to the under side of the shoulder 25. The handle is then released and the spring action thereof causes the upright arms 33 to assume the position shown in FIGURE '1, whereby the U shaped members are lodged adjacent the undersideof the, shoulder 25 in the triangular shaped cavity 27. It is 'apparenttlrat due to the shape of the -'cavity 27 and the U shaped member 37 that a downward force on thehandle 31 will-not'dislodge the handle.

will become more clearly apparent upon a review of the a following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a stack of trays employing handles in accordance with'the invention;

Moreover, twisting movement of the handle is resisted by the 'outspread U shaped member 37 directly beneath the shoulder 25.

Referring to FIGURES 4 to 11, other embodiments of the invention are shown. In each of these embodiments the upright members 33 and the cross member 35 is identical to that shown in the embodiment of FIGURES l to 3. Moreover, the U shaped members 37' are similar to the U shaped members 37 in FIGURE 3. However, in each of the embodiments shown in FIGURES 4 to 11 the U shaped members 37' include a further outward extending appendage which will be described presently.

Referring particularly to FIGURES 4 and 5, it is noted that the U shaped members 37 include appendages 39 lying in the same plane as the U shaped members 37' but extending in a direction away from the upright arms 33.

In the use of a handle such as shown in FIGURE 4, the inner portion 23 of the tray wall includes two spaced holes 40 located below the underside of the shoulder 25 and centrally located with respect to the lateral extension of the opening 29. The distance between the holes 40 is equal to that between the appendages 39 when the handle 33 is in its released or relaxed condition. Thus, as shown in FIGURE 5, when using the handle of the embodiment shown in FIGURE 4, not only do the U shaped members 37' lie adjacent the underside of the shoulder 25 but the appendages 39 extend through the holes 40 to further assist in locking the handle within the tray.

Referring to FIGURES 6 and 7 it is noted that, in this embodiment, appendages 41 lie in lines substantially perpendicular to the plane defined by the U shaped members 37'. Moreover, the appendages 41 extend upwardly from the U shaped members 37 in the same direction as the arms 33.

In the use of a handle having the configuration shown in FIGURE 6, the shoulders 25 of the box like member (FIGURE 7) include spaced holes 42 near the inner edge of the shoulder and centrally located with respect to the lateral dimension of the opening 29. The spacing between the holes 42 is equal to that between the appendages 41 when the handle is in its relaxed or released condition. Thus, when the handle as shown in FIGURE 6 is inserted into the end Wall as shown in FIGURE 7, the upright appendages 41 extend through the holes 42.

Referring to the embodiment shown in FIGURES 8 and 10, it is noted that there are included appendages 43 and 45, each which lies at an oblique angle with respect to its adjacent leg of the U shaped members 37'. In the embodiment shown in FIGURE 8 the appendages 43 extend downward in the direction opposite the extent of the arms 33 from the U shaped member 37. Together with the adjacent legs of the U shaped members 37' the appendages 43 define a plane perpendicular to the plane of the U shaped members themselves.

The appendages 45 in the embodiment shown in FIG- URE also extend by oblique angles from the U shaped members 37 but upward in the same direction as the arms 33 extend from the U shaped member. In this instance also the appendages 45 and the adjacent legs of the U shaped members 37 define a plane substantially perpendicular to the U shaped member 37 itself.

FIGURES 9 and 11 show the cooperation of the handles of FIGURES 8 and 10 with the end wall of a tray. It is noted that in each case the appendages 43 or 45 are embedded into the end wall itself. In the instance shown in FIGURE 9, the downward extending appendages 43 are embedded in the triangular shaped area of the end wall inner portion 23 while in FIGURE 11 it is shown that the upward extending appendages 45 are embedded in the under side of the shoulder 25.

The embedding action is accomplished when the handle is released within the end wall and once embedded dislodgment of the, handle by downward or lateral forces is extremely hindered.

Thus, it is seen that a new handle has been provided for use with a tray having an end wall with a wide shoul der at the top thereof. The shoulder need not necessarily be triangular in shape but may have any configuration which provides a vertical support for the legs of the U shaped members which are remote from the arms 33. Due to the fact that the handle need not extend the full length of the wall but merely under the shoulder itself, the amount of wire required to construct such handles is substantially reduced over that required for handles of the prior art wherein the wire must extend the full height of the end wall. Moreover, it is seen that the insertion of the handles described is extremely simple and requiring merely that the handle be compressed, inserted into an opening 29, twisted and released. There is no requirement that the bottom of the box or tray be accessible and consequently two handles may be installed simultaneously in a single tray.

I claim:

1. In a box having an end wall including inner and outer portions held together at the upper ends thereof by means of a wide shoulder forming an internal cavity, said wide shoulder defining an opening therein, a box handle including a pair of elongated arms joined together at one end thereof by a cross member, said arm adapted to be passed through said opening, a pair of U-shaped members lying in a plane substantially perpendicular to said arms and opening toward each other, one leg of each of said U-shaped members being directly connected to the other end of one of said arms and adapted to be retained in said cavity against the under side of said wide shoulder.

2. In a box as defined in claim 1, a short appendage extending outwardly from the other leg of each of said U-shaped members.

3. In a box as defined in claim 2, said appendages lying in a plane with said U-shaped members and extending in a direction away from said arms.

4. In a box as defined in claim 2, said appendages being perpendicular to the plane of said U-shaped members.

5. In a box as defined in claim 4, said appendages extending from the legs of said U-shaped members in the same direction as said arms extend from said U-shapcd members.

6. In a box as defined in claim 2, said appendages extending from said other leg of the U-shaped members at an oblique angle.

7. In a box as defined in claim 6, said appendages and said other legs of the U-shaped members defining a plane perpendicular to the plane of the U-shaped members, said appendages extending from said U-shaped members in a direction opposite to that of said arms extending from the U-shaped members.

8. In a box as defined in claim 6, said appendages and said other legs of the U-shaped members defining a plane perpendicular to the plane of the U-shaped members, said appendages extending from said U-shaped members in a direction similar to that of said arms extending from the U-shaped members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 823,071 Nelson June 12, 1906 1,422,028 Buedingen July 4, 1922 2,132,638 Mohler Oct. 11, 1938 2,195,070 Backert Mar. 26, 1940 2,458,239 Bartlett Jan. 4, 1949 2,636,663 Hauck Apr. 28, 1953 2,944,722 Dahlhauser et al. July 12, 1960 2,950,840 Franz Aug. 30, 1960 

1. IN A BOX HAVING AN END WALL INCLUDING INNER AND OUTER PORTIONS HELD TOGETHER AT THE UPPER ENDS THEREOF BY MEANS OF A WIDE SHOULDER FORMING AN INTERNAL CAVITY, SAID WIDE SHOULDER DEFINING AN OPENING THEREIN, A BOX HANDLE INCLUDING A PAIR OF ELONGATED ARMS JOINED TOGETHER AT ONE END THEREOF BY A CROSS MEMBER, SAID ARM ADAPTED TO BE PASSED THROUGH SAID OPENING, A PAIR OF U-SHAPED MEMBERS LYING IN A PLANE SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR TO SAID ARMS AND OPENING TOWARD EACH OTHER, ONE LEG OF EACH OF SAID U-SHAPED MEMBERS BEING DIRECTLY CONNECTED TO THE OTHER END OF ONE OF SAID ARMS AND ADAPTED TO BE RETAINED IN SAID CAVITY AGAINST THE UNDER SIDE OF SAID WIDE SHOULDER. 